Following the Cardinal of Lisbon in the liber divisionum ‘Obligationes et Solutiones 61’: the Chamber and College of Cardinals between Rome and Constance (1411-1415)

Résumé

Cardinal João Afonso de Azambuja, known to his contemporaries as Cardinal of Lisbon, participates in the divisions of common and minor services registered in a liber divisionum produced between 1413 and 1420 and kept in the Vatican Apostolic Archive under the reference “Cam. Ap., Oblig. et Sol. 61”. The main objective of this article is to follow Cardinal Azambuja in the aforementioned record, seeking to analyse the functioning of the Chamber of the College of Cardinals during the pontificate of John XXIII (1411-1415). We also seek to demonstrate how division books, in addition to being useful for calculating the income of the Cardinals’ Chamber or establishing the number of cardinals present in the Curia, can also be used to reconstitute the calendar of consistories and to clarify aspects of individual cardinals’ lives.